i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information storage apparatus for holding an information recording medium in a predetermined position and rotating the medium in a predetermined direction to perform at least an information reproduction with respect to the information recording medium.
ii) Description of Related Art
Information storage apparatuses such as a hard disk drive and a magnetooptic (MO) disk drive have heretofore been known, and in the information storage apparatus, a disk or card information recording medium is rotated by a spindle motor or the like at a high speed to access the information recording medium. The information storage apparatus is incorporated into a computer system as the information storage apparatus for a computer in many cases.
In recent years, information communication networks such as Internet have rapidly been developed, and with the development, portable computer systems such as a notebook-size personal computer have also been developed. When the aforementioned information storage apparatus is incorporated and utilized in the portable computer system, it is necessary to operate the information storage apparatus by a storage battery or a dry battery. Moreover, in order to lengthen life of the battery, and construct the portable computer system which can be utilized for a long time, development of the information storage apparatus with a little current consumption has strongly been demanded.
Additionally, when the information storage apparatus continues to be driven by the battery, an electric power stored in the battery is soon consumed, and it becomes impossible to continue driving the information storage apparatus. Therefore, the information storage apparatus or the computer system is provided with a function of issuing an alarm to a user when a remaining power of the battery runs short. For example, the information storage apparatus or the computer system monitors a voltage of the battery, and issues an alarm to let the user know that the remaining power runs short when the voltage indicates a predetermined level or less. A state in which the remaining power of the battery reaches a level requiring the alarm will hereinafter be referred to as a battery alarm state.
The user, notified of the battery alarm state, stops using the information storage apparatus and recovers the information recording medium from the apparatus in many cases. In order to recover the information recording medium from the information storage apparatus, it is necessary to stop rotating the information recording medium and take the medium out of the apparatus, but the stopping and taking of the medium are generally performed by the motor or the like. An operation of the information storage apparatus for stopping the rotation of the information recording medium and taking the medium out of the apparatus will hereinafter be referred to as an eject operation.
In a conventional information storage apparatus, a large power is consumed during stopping of the rotation of the information recording medium, a cartridge is incompletely ejected, in the course of the eject operation the power of the battery or the like runs out and the information storage apparatus stops in some cases. When the information storage apparatus stops in the course of the eject operation, there is a possibility that the recovering of the information recording medium becomes impossible and a possibility that breakage of the information recording medium is caused.